86 BRITISH EDIBLE FUNGI. 



colour, with a reddish tinge, and the gills are darker, 

 and rather rufous. The milk is white and mild to 

 the taste. There is an opaque dryness in the appear- 

 ance of this fungus when it is not overcharged with 

 moisture by the wetness of the season, which will dis- 

 tinguish it also from small specimens of Lactariiis 

 volemiis. There is often found growing in company 

 with it, in the same sort of situations in woods, a 

 smaller species, of much brighter colour, but always 

 small {Lactarius vntisstvms). It is a very mild 

 species, as its name indicates, and preferable to 

 siibdulcis when cooked. This little milk mushroom 

 is often about an inch across the pileus, occasionally 

 double that size, and of an orange colour, with a faint 

 mixture of brown, but it has no zones, or concentric 

 bands of a darker colour ; the stem is about as long 

 as the diameter of the cap, and paler, as are also the 

 numerous gills. There is hardly any very appreci- 

 able odour in these three species, and all have a 

 plentiful supply of sweet white milk, which does not 

 change colour on exposure to the air. It sometimes 

 seems a little difficult to draw the line of separation 

 between these latter two species, for small bright 

 coloured individuals of Lactarius siibdulcis are very 

 like Lactarius mitissinms. 



After all, the most celebrated is the Orange milk 

 mushroom {^Lactarius deliciosiis). Even the name 

 declares it to be one of the most delicious of fungi. 

 Thus much is assumed by the name, although there 



